Trial of Shadows (Order of the Elements Book 3)

by Emma L. Adams

  I didn’t hear the question he asked, but I nodded. I didn’t know what else to do. The world kept fading around the edges, while all sensation disappeared—except for one voice. Quiet. So quiet.

  “Liv—Liv. Please, Liv.”

  I’d heard his voice, in my last memory before the Order had caught me.

  “It was you,” I tried to say, but I was no longer able to speak. Not even when he held up the amulet, not even when I felt myself fading away beneath its surface, and not even when I looked down and saw my dead body turn to ashes which blew away on the breeze.

  Then the world faded to nothingness.

  24

  As though from a deep sleep, I came to alertness to find myself floating in the middle of the hall in the Death King’s castle. My feet didn’t touch the polished floor, and when I looked down, only darkness filled the space beneath me.

  “I’m dead.” The words should have felt heavy in my mouth, but I couldn’t feel much of anything at all. I was dead. A lich. Immortal, eternal, and bound to stay here forever.

  I might have cried, but I didn’t have tear ducts. Didn’t have eyes either. I was nothing more than a floating shadow. Even my emotions felt muted.

  On the plus side, I was still here. I still existed. Which was more than others might say.

  “Oh, good, you’re awake.” Dex hovered in front of me. “And you’re like me. I guess we’ll both have to play NPCs now.”

  “Did you have to remind me?” Like I didn’t have enough reasons to lament my new bodiless existence. How was I supposed to join in with D&D night in this state?

  “Hey, you get to live forever, at least,” he said. “I didn’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “That would be really heart-warming if I wasn’t dead.”

  Two more sprites approached us. At Aria’s side floated a semi-transparent blue-white sprite with long hair and a mischievous expression.

  “Did you take in that water sprite who rigged the trials?” I asked Dex.

  “Her master was dead, so she didn’t have anywhere else to go,” he said. “She says her name is Mav.”

  “And Bria? What about her?” She’d fought on our side, but I’d lost sight of her in the battle. I might have more pressing concerns than what in hell her game was, but I had all the time in the world now.

  “Funny thing, that,” he said. “On second thoughts, I think I’ll let his Deathly Highness explain.”

  “Explain what?” I swore as Dex flew away, leaving me hovering in mid-air. “Come on.”

  Then I saw who was standing in the doorway, staring up at me. Devon, back on her feet. I flew down to meet her. “Hey, Devon.”

  Devon jumped. “Liv? Is that really you? It’s kinda hard to tell, what with the mask and all.”

  “Crap,” I felt my face, but if it was as shadowy as my hands were, no wonder she’d freaked out. “Guess I need to practice putting my human face on.”

  “Can’t you ask the Death King to teach you?” she said.

  “I haven’t seen him yet.” Not that I knew what to say to him. He’d saved my life and condemned me to death in the same instant.

  And as for everything else that had come up during my vision of my past? I didn’t know how to deal with that on top of the knowledge that I was never going home again. The world on the other side of the nodes had no place for liches.

  “He’s the one who did that to you,” she said. “Right?”

  “To save my life,” I said. “Not that it helps. Hawker got away. So did Cobb and his other allies, and they probably have the whole Order dancing to their tune now.”

  “I know.” She blew out a breath. “I haven’t been back home yet. To be honest, I don’t dare. The Order knows I’m on your side. Unless I can convince them otherwise, but…”

  “But they might try to jail you again,” I finished. “I’d lie low here, but it’s up to you. You can leave, after all. I can’t, not without falling to pieces.”

  “Shit, Liv,” she said. “You’re really… I mean, don’t get me wrong, there are upsides. Like our expenses are way lower now.”

  I didn’t quite manage a smile. What was I supposed to tell my parents? I’d never see them again. I couldn’t return to the Order even if I wanted to. If I went back to Earth, I wouldn’t survive away from the nodes. I’d fade away for good.

  My heart seized. I took back all I said about liches being emotionless, because it didn’t seem to be true so far. Then again, I appeared as much of a faceless monster as any of the living dead.

  “I’m lying low until the dust settles,” she said. “Doesn’t hurt that half our D&D group is here.”

  “Wait, they are?” I floated after her as she led the way through the corridor to the break room, where I found several familiar faces. Trix and Ryan, Felicity, Cal… and Bria, wearing the uniform of the Fire Element.

  “What the hell is she—?”

  A hand caught my wrist before I could advance on Bria and demand to know what she was doing here. I rotated and found myself face to face with the Death King, armour and all. There you are.

  “I need to talk to you,” he said.

  I shot Bria a glare she couldn’t see, since my face was masked, and turned to the Death King. “If you insist.”

  I shoved Bria to the back of my mind and followed him out of the room. Now both of us hovered off the ground, he didn’t tower over me as much, and we both moved at the same speed. We entered the hall of souls, which appeared as vast as ever, amulets filling the countless shelves and silence cloaking our steps.

  “You never said it was this… dull,” I said. “Death, I mean.”

  “I did tell you it wasn’t something I willingly walked into.”

  Guess I didn’t, either, in the end.

  His tone made it hard to tell his thoughts, but the panic in his voice when I’d been on the brink of death came to mind. I wondered how well we’d known one another before, back when I’d been Dirk Alban’s apprentice. Well enough for me to entrust him with helping me turn the tables on my ex-mentor, at least.

  “You did,” I said, “but I thought… I figured Devon at least would recognise me, but she didn’t.”

  “No,” he said. “I can teach you to conjure up an illusion of your former self, if you wish. You’ll also need to decide where you want me to keep your soul amulet.”

  Oh. Right. That’s why he’d brought me here to the hall of souls. I couldn’t carry my own soul with me, not if I wanted to keep it where it belonged, anyway. Here was probably the safest place, and yet…

  Silence stretched between us, taut as a wire. I wanted to scream and sob, and yet I felt as though a foggy cloud masked the emotions I’d once been able to express. Maybe in time they’d fade away entirely, along with all memories of being human.

  “Where… whereabouts is it?”

  He approached a shelf and pointed out an amulet, which looked identical to all the others. “I think here is the safest place for now. Nobody came in here during the battle.”

  “I suppose they didn’t need to, now they’re luring people onto their side of their own free will rather than stealing their souls.”

  “That was always Hawker’s aim, I think,” he said. “Clever of him, to turn himself on purpose in order to escape notice. He’s one of the oldest of my Court, and few would recognise him as the man he was before.”

  “He hid among the other liches after the war,” I said. “Right?”

  He inclined his head. “The Order is rebuilding following the attack. I have yet to hear an update on Cobb’s status… or his allies.”

  “Yeah. I thought so.” It had all been for nothing in the end. I’d failed to save them, and I’d even failed to save myself. “What about Bria? You picked her as your Fire Element? I thought she was working against us.”

  “I’m going to have to ask you to trust my decision,” he said. “Bria’s connections to the Houses of the Elements will be invaluable in reforming my own House in such a way that the
re will be no more people leaving to join Hawker.”

  “Death King, I appreciate that you want to do right by your people, but the fact is, they’re defecting because Hawker is giving them a chance to come back to life again. Unless you can offer that, you can’t compete.”

  “He’s offering them a lie.”

  “That doesn’t matter on the surface,” I said. “A simple lie can outdo the truth just by seeming easier. Most people don’t want reality or brutal honesty. They want to be told they’re right. And now they believe Hawker is offering them a miracle.”

  A miracle, with a hell of a sting in the tail. There must be a downside somewhere, one that would backfire on him in the end.

  But if there wasn’t? If there was the faintest chance that I’d be able to return to the life I’d known before, I didn’t know that I could refuse it.

  As it was, I was stuck here for the time being, and my best bet for survival was to blend in among the others. The Order didn’t know I was still alive. Since Cobb had them under his control, that would be a blessing for once. They wouldn’t be out looking for me. Which gave me a unique opportunity.

  I would go and find where Hawker and his allies were hiding. I’d find the spell they’d used to bring themselves back to life. Not just to save the Death King, but to save myself, too.

  This wasn’t over. I might have drawn my last breath, but I would live again.

  And this time, I would live as a spirit mage.

  Thank you for reading!

  The story continues in Book 4 of the Order of the Elements, coming soon.

  Find out more at smarturl.it/OrderoftheElements

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  Want to find out how Liv met Dex? You can get a free prequel short story, The Lost Spirit, if you sign up to my author newsletter: http://smarturl.it/ELAnewsletter

  I hope you enjoyed Trial of Shadows. If you have a minute to spare, then I’d really appreciate a short review. For independent authors, reviews help more readers discover our books. I’d love to know what you thought!

  About the Author

  Emma is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of the Changeling Chronicles urban fantasy series.

  Emma spent her childhood creating imaginary worlds to compensate for a disappointingly average reality, so it was probably inevitable that she ended up writing fantasy novels. When she's not immersed in her own fictional universes, Emma can be found with her head in a book or wandering around the world in search of adventure.

  Find out more about Emma’s books at www.emmaladams.com.